Hector Lombard's first Pride fight (spoiler, of course)

I know it is maybe a little late to use the "spoiler" term, but I wanted to warn people, just in case they still haven't seen Pride from this weekend. Just being on the safe side...

This is a fight I was interested in seeing. Lombard's first major event. I had seen some videos of him in some minor shows, demolishing people I've never heard of. He looked awfully beastly.

However, since I am not an idiot, I knew that wasn't a reliable indicator of how he'd do against much better competition.

I was a bit surprised by a couple things.

One is that he came out swinging, and was early on effective with it. With his Judo background, and this being his first major event, I was a bit surprised at the use of strikes and the extreme aggression he showed in the opening minutes.

The other thing that surprised me is that after this strategy started not working very well for him, he stubbornly stuck with it. I, again due to his Judo background, expected that when he wasn't being effective enough in striking, that he would make more of an effort to go to the ground. There was a bit of that, but it was too little, too late.

He lost by decision.

I'll be interested in seeing how he does in future big events. Maybe he can get a bit of experience and make a better showing next time. Or, maybe he won't. Only time will tell. But he does seem to have potential.